Beer News

The trade session at this year's Great British Beer Festival (pictured) will see a much larger turnout of brewers as CAMRA opens a new facility for smaller producers. Black Sheep Brewery is launching a new keg pale ale, Pathmaker, to attract younger drinkers while Thornbridge Brewery is going into partnership with a top Dutch bar owner. Ilkley Brewery will expand production under new ownership

Discount supermarket chain Lidl has launched 48 new beers from regional breweries, with a price band of £1.17 to £1.69, undercutting those from Asda, Sainsbury's and Tesco. While a number of big brewers are featured, drinkers will also find beers from the likes of Kite, Leeds Brewery, Portobello and Tower

Nationwide drinks group Oddbins has launched No 5, the latest in its range of craft beers. It's a Saison, based on the style made famous in French-speaking Wallonia. It's brewed by Rocky Head Brewery, a new micro-plant in south London launched by Steve Daniels, a former Oddbins director

American craft beers in cask-conditioned form will be one of the highlights at the 2015 Great Brtish Beer Festival, to be staged at London Olympa from 11-15 August. The festival, which attracts up to 55,000 people, will also feature 900 real ales from around the UK, along with the announcement of the annual Champion Beer of Britain awards

Legendary rock group Queen celebrate 40 years since they recorded Bohemian Rhapsody -- one of the best-selling records of all time -- with a Bohemian Pilsner brewed in the Czech Republic to the spirit of the original beer from Pilsen brewed there in the mid- 19th century. Bohemian Lager will be rocking and stocking shelves in the UK and then worldwide

Rob and Jo Theakston have launched a new hoppy, golden pale ale, Hoptacular, at their brewery in Masham, North Yorkshire. Four hops are used to give the 3.6% beer a big bitter and fruity appeal, with much of the character coming from fermentation in traditional "Yorkshire Squares"

Molson Coors has admitted that the bottled version of its best-selling Doom Bar has been brewed for the past two years in Burton-on-Trent. Yet bottle labels announce in bold type ROCK CORNWALL. And an advertisement in Waitrose Weekend, illustrated with a bottle of Doom Bar, says Sharp's creates beer "alive with Cornish energy" at Rock. Other big brands, including Foster's, Kronenbourg and Stella Artois, also stress their places of origin but brew in Britain

As celebrations get underway to commemorate the signing of Magna Carta 800 years ago, breweries have produced special beers to mark the occasion. Some use medieval recipes to incorporate such ingredients as rosemary, yarrow and other herbs and spices added at a time when hops were not available or were unknown

Posy Parsons (left) and Claire Russell are bringing full-mash and full-grain brewing to the home with easy to use kits that offer malted barley and hop pellets rather than syrups. They hail from the U.S. and Australia respectively where they fought their way through the fizz to discover good beer and brought their passion to the UK.

Nicholson's, the 80-strong chain of historic pubs located throughout the UK, has seen a dramatic increase of 27% in the consumption of golden and pale ales. Nicholson's -- part of the Mitchells & Butlers group -- says many younger drinkers moving from lager find golden and pale ales appealing. But its biggest-selling style is still amber-coloured bitter